Processing financial products

ABSTRACT

Financing obtained from a lender may be processed by a retailer in a manner similar to a credit card. For example, transaction data associated with a transaction to acquire one or more items from the retailer may be entered at a point of sale terminal of the retailer. A request may be sent for a temporary shopping pass associated with an account of a consumer at the lender. The temporary shopping pass may be used as a virtual payment instrument to access financing (e.g., a loan, a lease, or a credit) provided by the lender. After receiving the temporary shopping pass, the shopping pass data included in the temporary shopping pass, such as a one-time card number, may be entered into the point of sale terminal. The transaction may be completed by processing the shopping pass data as a credit card type tender using the point of sale terminal.

BACKGROUND

A retailer may desire to offer consumers access to financing from morethan one provider of financing because having more than one lender mayenable the retailer to complete more transactions and thereby increasesales. However, integrating different types of lenders to enabletransactions to be quickly and smoothly processed may prove cumbersome.For example, each lender may each have a different way in which theyprovide financing, resulting in the retailer having to follow alender-specific procedure to process each transaction.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key or essentialfeatures of the claimed subject matter; nor is it to be used fordetermining or limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Some implementations may include entering, at a point of sale terminalof a retailer, transaction data associated with a transaction to acquireone or more items from the retailer. A consumer associated with theconsumer transaction may have an account at a lender that is associatedwith the retailer. A temporary shopping pass associated with the accountof the consumer at the lender may be requested. After receiving thetemporary shopping pass, the shopping pass data included in thetemporary shopping pass, such as a one-time card number, may be enteredinto the point of sale terminal. The transaction may be completed byprocessing the shopping pass data as a credit card type tender using thepoint of sale terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Thesame reference numbers in different figures indicate similar oridentical items.

FIG. 1 is an illustrative architecture to process financing according tosome implementations.

FIG. 2 is an example of a shopping pass according to someimplementations.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram to create a shopping pass according to someimplementations.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of processing a shopping pass according to someimplementations.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram to settle a transaction according to someimplementations.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative architecture for settling one or moretransactions according to some implementations.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of an example process that includes settlingone or more transactions according to some implementations.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an example process that includes requestinga shopping pass according to some implementations.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an example process that includes receiving aone-time card number according to some implementations.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of an example process that includes receivinginformation associated with a temporary shopping pass according to someimplementations.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of an example process that includes processinga return for a purchase made using a temporary shopping pass accordingto some implementations.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example configuration of a computing device andenvironment that can be used to implement the modules and functionsdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The techniques and systems described herein may enable a retailer tooffer financing from multiple lenders and process the financing in amanner similar to processing a credit card transaction. In this way, themultiple lenders may “ride the rails” of a credit card network. Theretailer can thus provide financing from multiple lenders withoutsignificantly changing the way the financing is processed.

When a consumer completes an application for financing at a retailer,the application may be sent to one or more lenders. The one or morelenders may determine, based on various criteria (e.g., credit score,income, military service etc.), whether to provide an offer of financingto the consumer. If more than one lender provides an offer, one of theoffers may be selected based on one or more criteria and provided to theconsumer. For example, one of the offers may be selected based on one ormore criteria provided by the retailer, such as a highest credit limitor lowest interest rate. The selected offer may be presented to theconsumer at the retailer. If the consumer accepts the selected offer, anaccount may be opened for the consumer. The consumer may be providedwith a temporary (e.g., one-time use) shopping pass that includes aone-time card number (OCN). The temporary shopping pass may be a virtualpayment instrument that is associated with and provides access tofinancing (e.g., loan, lease, revolving line of credit, or the like)provided by the lender. The one-time card number may havecharacteristics similar to a credit card number because the one-timecard number may have the same length (e.g., 16 digits) as a credit cardnumber, an associated security code (e.g., three or four number code)similar to a credit card, an associated expiry date similar to a creditcard, another characteristic, or any combination thereof. Because theone-time card number has characteristics that are similar to a creditcard, the temporary shopping pass may be used by a consumer andprocessed by the retailer in a manner similar to a credit card. Theprimary difference between the one-time card number and a credit cardnumber may be that the one-time card number may only be used once. Thepurchase data may be sent to the lender for authorization. If the lenderdetermines that the account data is valid and that the transaction doesnot exceed the consumer's available credit limit, the lender may approvethe creation of the shopping pass. Otherwise, e.g., the account data isinvalid or the transaction exceeds the consumer's available credit limitthe lender may decline to approve the request.

To initiate a transaction to acquire one or more items, the consumer maypresent the shopping pass, along with an indication of the items to beacquired, to an agent (e.g., a salesclerk) of the retailer. Theretailer's agent may process the transaction in a manner similar to acredit card transaction, e.g., by entering, at a point-of-sale terminal(POS), the transaction amount and account data, such as one or more ofthe card number (e.g., the one-time card number) of the shopping pass,the expiry date of the shopping pass, or the security code of theshopping pass. The transaction amount and the account data may be sentacross a credit card processing network and identified as a one-timecard number. In response to the POS receiving the transaction approvalmessage from the credit card processing network, the retailer's agentmay inform the consumer that the transaction was declined.

Thus, the systems and techniques described herein may enable a retailerto offer financing through multiple lenders while processing thefinancing in a manner similar to processing a credit card transactionusing the retailer's existing POS and credit card processing network.Thus, the retailer can, without integrating any additional hardwareand/or software with the POS, process financing offered by multiplelenders.

Illustrative Architectures

FIG. 1 is an illustrative architecture 100 to process financing in amanner similar to a credit card transaction according to someimplementations. The architecture 100 is used to provide an overview ofprocessing financial products (e.g., credit offerings) in a mannersimilar to a credit card transaction. Further details associated withprocessing financial products (e.g., credit offerings) in a mannersimilar to a credit card transaction are discussed in subsequentfigures. The architecture 100 includes a representative computing device102, an acquirer 104, one or more card issuers 106, a bank 108, one ormore lenders 110, a lender liaison 112, a settlement facilitation hub114, and a credit card partner 116 connected to a network 118. Thenetwork 118 may include one or more networks, such as a wireless localarea network (e.g., WiFi®, Bluetooth™, or other type of near-fieldcommunication (NFC) network), a wireless wide area network (e.g., a codedivision multiple access (CDMA), a global system for mobile (GSM)network, or a long term evolution (LTE) network), a wired network (e.g.,Ethernet, data over cable service interface specification (DOCSIS),Fiber Optic System (FiOS), Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and the like),another type of network, or any combination thereof. The network 118 mayinclude a private network, a public network, or both. As illustrated inFIG. 1, a portion of the messages may travel across a payment network119. The payment network 119 may be a private network, such as aninter-bank network (e.g., Interac, Novus, or the like) or a credit cardprocessing network (e.g., Mastercard® network, Visa® network, etc.).

The computing device 102, the acquirer 104, the one or more card issuers106, the bank 108, the one or more lenders 110, the lender liaison 112,the settlement facilitation hub 114, and the credit card partner 116 mayeach comprise a computer-based device that includes one or moreprocessors and one or more computer-readable media to store instructionsthat are executable by the one or more processors to perform variousfunctions, as illustrated in more detail in FIG. 12. The computingdevice 102 may be a point of sale (POS) terminal, a kiosk, or a consumerdevice, such as a wireless phone, a tablet computer, a personalcomputer, a media playback device, or other consumer device.

The representative computing device 102 may be located at a location ofa retailer 120. While a single computing device 102 is illustrated inFIG. 1, the retailer 120 may have more than one POS terminal at eachlocation and more than one consumer device may be located at eachlocation of the retailer 120. The retailer 120 may have more than onelocation. For example, the retailer 120 may have multiple locations thatare geographically dispersed and each of the multiple locations may haveone or more POS terminal devices. The computing device 102 may be acomputing device (e.g., as described in more detail in FIG. 12) with oneor more processors, one or more input devices (e.g., keyboard, mouse,bar code scanner, touch-sensitive pad, etc.) and one or morecomputer-readable media. The computer-readable media may be used tostore an operating system, device drivers, and one or more softwareapplications, such as a representative software application 122.

The acquirer 104 (also referred to as a merchant acquirer or acquiringbank) may be a financial institution that processes credit card paymentsor debit card payments on behalf of a merchant, such as the retailer120. The acquirer 104 may acquire credit card payments from card-issuingbanks, such as the card issuers 106, within an association, such asVisa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Diners Club, or the like.

A bank processor 124 may be connected to the network 118. The bankprocessor 124 is an agent of (e.g., acts on behalf of) an issuing bank(e.g., one of the card issuers 106) to process transactions, such ascredit card transactions. Thus, the acquirer 104 may act on behalf ofthe retailer 120 to process transactions while the bank processor 124may act on behalf of an issuing bank to process the transactions.

The card issuers 106 may include one or more payment processors whoprocess payments, such as a bank processor 124. The bank processor 124may be appointed by a bank, such as the bank 108, to handle credit cardtransactions. The bank processor 124 may check transaction details byforwarding the transaction details to a respective card's issuing bank(e.g., the bank 108) for verification. After the bank processor 124 hasreceived confirmation that the credit card details have been verified,the transaction confirmation may be provided back to the retailer 120,and the transaction may be completed. If verification is denied by theissuing bank, the payment processor may provide the information to themerchant, and the merchant may decline the transaction.

The lenders 110 may include a first lender 130 though to an Nth lender132 (where N>1). The lenders 110 may include companies that provideconsumer financing, including lease-to-purchase or other financingoptions.

The bank 108 may include multiple lender accounts, such as a firstaccount 134 to an Nth account 136. For example, the first account 134may correspond to the first lender 130 and the nth account 136 maycorrespond to the nth lender 132. In some cases, the accounts 134 to 136may be part of a line of credit provided to the liaison 112. The line ofcredit may be divided into the accounts 134 to 136 for association withthe lenders 130 to 132. Each of the accounts 134 to 136 may beassociated with a actual account number (AAN). For example, the firstaccount 134 may be associated with a first actual account number 138 andthe Nth account 136 may be associated with an Nth actual account number140. One-time card numbers provided for use with shopping passes may bederived from the actual account numbers.

The liaison 112 may be an intermediary that facilitates access to thelenders 110 for the retailer 120. For example, the liaison 112 may be acompany such as NewComLink that provides retailers with access tomultiple lenders.

The settlement facilitation hub (SFH) 114 may facilitate the settlementof transactions between the lenders 110, the retailer 120, the liaison112, and the bank 108. The SFH 114 may receive the transaction data thatincludes transactions (e.g., purchases), retrieve each transaction fromthe transaction data, and store each transaction (e.g., in one or moredatabases). The SFH 114 may identify a lender associated with eachtransaction based on the transaction data. The SFH 114 may determine aclearinghouse associated with the lender. For example, many lenders mayuse a specific clearinghouse. Examples of a clearinghouse includeDiscover Card's Pulse, First Data's STAR, and New York Currency Exchange(NYCE). The SFH 114 may create settlement transaction data correspondingto each transaction of the transaction data. The settlement transactiondata corresponding to a particular transaction may be formatted for theclearinghouse and the lender associated with the particular transaction.The SFH 114 may provide the settlement transaction data to theclearinghouse of the lender that is associated with the transaction.When multiple retailers are each using multiple lenders, the SFH 114 mayprovide settlement transaction data to multiple clearinghouses. Thesettlement transaction data sent to a particular clearinghouse mayinclude transactions associated with multiple retailers and may beintended for lenders that use the particular clearinghouse.

In response to receiving the settlement transaction data, theclearinghouse may initiate a transfer of funds from one or more lenderaccounts to one or more retailer accounts. The clearinghouse may providetransaction results identifying which settlement transactions weresuccessfully processed, which settlement transactions wereunsuccessfully processed (e.g., an error occurred), which type of errorsoccurred (if errors occurred), etc. The transaction results may includeresults for transactions of lenders associated with the clearinghouseand may include results of transactions from multiple retailers. Inresponse to receiving the transaction results, the SFH 114 may updatethe status of each stored transaction. For example, if the transactionresults indicate that a particular transaction was successfullycompleted, the SFH 114 may update the status of the stored transactionto indicate that the particular transaction was completed. The SFH 114may compile a report for each retailer, providing details as to whichtransactions were successfully performed, the amount of fundstransferred in each transaction, which transactions were unsuccessfuland why, etc.

For example, the consumer 142 may accept an offer of financing (e.g.,$2000 credit limit) from the Nth lender 132 (e.g., one of the lenders110) and purchase an item from the retailer 120 for $1000. The retailer120 may provide transaction data to the SFH 114 indicating that (1) apurchase for $1000 occurred and (2) the Nth lender 132 financed thepurchase. The SFH 114 may store the transaction, identify aclearinghouse as the clearinghouse associated with Nth lender 132, andcreate settlement transaction data, based on the transaction data,indicating that (1) a purchase for $1000 occurred and (2) informationassociated with settling the purchase. The SFH 114 may create thesettlement transaction data in a format that the clearinghouse iscapable of receiving and acting upon. The SFH 114 may provide thesettlement transaction data to the clearinghouse.

In response to receiving the settlement transaction data, theclearinghouse may initiate the transfer of funds based on theinformation in the settlement transaction data. In this example, theclearinghouse may initiate a transfer of funds (e.g., $1000) from anaccount of Nth lender 132 to an account of the retailer 120. Theclearinghouse may provide transaction results to the SFH 114 thatindicate whether the settlement transaction, e.g., transferring $1000from an account of Nth lender 132 to an account of the retailer 120, wassuccessfully completed. In response to receiving the transactionresults, the SFH 114 may update the status of the stored transaction.For example, the SFH 114 may update the status of the stored transactionto indicate that the funds were successfully transferred. As anotherexample, the SFH 114 may update the status of the stored transaction toindicate that the transfer of funds was unsuccessful and identify theproblem that was encountered. The SFH may identify all updatedtransactions and create a report for each retailer identifying thestatus of the updated transactions. In this example, the SFH 114 mayprovide a report to the retailer 120 indicating that the transaction wassuccessfully processed, e.g., $1000 in funds was successfullytransferred from an account of Nth lender 132 to an account of theretailer 120.

While $1000 is used as an example, a typical settlement may take intoaccount fees, discounts etc., such that the actual amount transferred aspart of the settlement may be less than $1000. For example, the lenderinvolved in the transaction may be paid a fee (e.g., a flat fee or apercentage of the transaction) during the settlement process, theclearinghouse involved in the transaction may be paid a fee during thesettlement process (e.g., a flat fee or a percentage of thetransaction), or both the lender and the clearinghouse may be paid afee. To illustrate, if the lender is paid a 10% fee and theclearinghouse is paid a 5% fee, then for a $1000 transaction, the lendermay be paid $100 and the clearinghouse may be paid $50. In this example,$850 (e.g., $1000-$100-$50) may be transferred from the lender's accountto the retailer's account to settle the transaction and the settlementreport may indicate that $850 was transferred. The settlement report mayprovide details as to the fees paid to the lender and/or to theclearinghouse. For example, the settlement report may indicate that thetotal value of the purchase was $1000 and detail that $100 went to thelender, $50 went to the clearinghouse, and $850 was transferred tosettle the transaction. In some cases, the SFH 114 may be paid a fee tocompensate for facilitating the transaction and the settlement reportmay provide details as to the fees paid to the lender, theclearinghouse, and the SFH 114.

Thus, the SFH 114 may enable multiple retailers to each offer consumersaccess to multiple lenders. Instead of formatting and providingtransaction data items for each specific lender used by each retailer,each retailer merely sends the transaction data associated with themultiple lenders to the SFH 114 for processing. Each retailer may formatthe transaction data according to an SFH-format instead of formattingthe transaction data for multiple clearinghouses or multiple lenders whoeach have their own specific format. The SFH 114 identifies thetransactions associated with a particular clearinghouse and formatssettlement transactions according to the format used by eachclearinghouse. After the SFH 114 sends the settlement transactions toeach clearinghouse used by the various lenders, the clearinghousesinitiate the transfer of funds and provide transaction resultsindicating whether the funds associated with each transaction weresuccessfully transferred from a lender account to a retailer account.The clearinghouses provide transaction results to the SFH 114, whichupdates the status of the stored transactions based on the transactionresults. The SFH 114 produces a report for each retailer based on theupdated transactions and sends the report to each retailer. Each reportmay be formatted specifically for each retailer. Thus, by using the SFH114, the cost and effort (e.g., formatting data, etc.) to access themultiple lenders 110 for each retailer is significantly reduced because(1) each retailer sends transaction data in an SFH-readable format tothe SFH 114 (rather than having to format the transaction data for eachclearinghouse and/or lender) and (2) each retailer receives a settlementreport in a format specific to the retailer, e.g., the retailer does notmodify the settlement report to a retailer-readable format because theSFH 114 provides each retailer with the settlement report in theretailer-readable format.

The credit card partner 116 may provide the retailer 120 with access toa credit card processing network, e.g., a private network used toprocess credit card transactions. The retailer 120 may use the creditcard processing network of the credit card partner 116 to processfinancial products, such as credit offerings, provided by one or more ofthe lenders 110.

A consumer 142 may apply for credit by filling out an application 144and sending the application 144 to one or more of the lenders 110. Thelenders 110 may include non-banking financial institutions that offervarious types of credit instruments. If one of the lenders 110 approvesthe application 144, a credit account associated with the consumer 142may be created. The credit account may have an associated credit limitthat identifies a maximum amount that the consumer 142 may borrow at anygiven time.

When the consumer 142 desires to initiate a transaction to acquire(e.g., to purchase, lease, or lease purchase) one or more items (e.g.,goods, services, or both goods and services) from the retailer 120, theretailer 120 may create transaction data 146 associated with thetransaction using the computing device 102. The transaction data 146 mayidentify one or more of good(s), service(s), other items, or anycombination thereof that the consumer 142 is acquiring. The transactiondata 146 may also identify other information associated with thetransaction, such as an amount of tax, a shipping charge, an amount of adiscount, etc.

The transaction data 146 may be sent to the Nth lender 132 (from thelenders 110) where the consumer 142 previously created an associatedcredit account. The transaction data 146 may include a total amount ofthe transaction as well as information associated with the consumer 142to enable the Nth lender 132 to identify the associated credit account.The Nth lender 132 may authorize the transaction data 146 and determine,based on the transaction data 146, whether the total of the transactionwould cause a credit limit associated with the credit account of theconsumer 142 to be exceeded. If the total of the transaction would causethe credit limit to be exceeded, the Nth lender 132 may decline toauthorize the transaction and send a result 148 to the computing device102 indicating that the transaction was declined. If the cost of thetransaction would not cause the credit limit associated to be exceeded,the Nth lender 132 may approve the transaction. In response to the Nthlender 132 approving the transaction, one-time account data 150 may becreated and sent to the computing device 102. The one-time account data150 may be derived from one of the actual account numbers 138 to 140.The one-time account data 150 may resemble a credit card in that theone-time account data 150 may include a sixteen digit accountidentifier, a three or four digital security code, an expiration date,other features to control the use of the one-time card number, or anycombination thereof.

The one-time account data 150 may be processed by the computing device102 in a manner similar to a credit card. For example, an agent of theretailer 120 may enter the account identifier, the security code, andthe expiration date of the one-time account data 150, similar to how theagent would enter the account identifier, the security code, andexpiration date of a credit card. The computing device 102 may processthe one-time account data 150 in a manner similar to a credit cardnumber, e.g., by sending the transaction data 146 and the one-timeaccount data 150 to the acquirer 104 via a network of the credit cardpartner 116. The acquirer 104 may authorize the one-time account data150 and send the transaction data 146 and the one-time account data 150to the bank processor 124. If the bank processor 124 determines that theaccount associated with the one-time account data 150 is valid and thatthe credit limit would not be exceeded based on the transaction data148, then the bank processor 124 may approve the transaction and sendapproval to the computing device 102. Upon receiving approval for thetransaction, the computing device 102 may complete the transaction. Thecomputing device 102 may provide the consumer 142 with a receiptassociated with the transaction.

Thus, the consumer 142 may send an application for credit to one or moreof the lenders 110. If the application is approved by one of thelenders, an account associated with the consumer 142 may be created.

At a later point in time (e.g., after the creation of the account), theconsumer 142 may initiate a transaction to acquire an item from aretailer. The retailer may send transaction data associated with thetransaction along with information associated with the consumer'saccount to the lender. If the lender approves the transaction, theretailer may receive one-time account data, in the form of a temporaryshopping pass, which the consumer 142 may use to complete thetransaction. The one-time account data may include one or more of aone-time card number, an expiry date, or a security code.

The retailer may treat the one-time account data in a manner similar toa credit card, e.g., by entering the one-time account data in a mannersimilar to entering credit card data. The one-time account data may beprocessed in a manner similar to a credit card, e.g., the one-timeaccount data may be sent over a private credit card network of thecredit card partner 116 of the retailer 120. In this way, the retailercan process financing from lenders using the retailer's existing creditprocessing mechanism instead of electronically linking to one or morelenders. In addition, the retailer can provide financing from multiplelenders, including lenders that do not offer credit cards.

FIG. 2 is an example of a shopping pass 200 according to someimplementations. The temporary shopping pass 200 may be a virtualpayment instrument that is associated with a financial instrumentprovided by the lender. The financial instrument may be a loan, a lease,a revolving line of credit, a stored value, a direct currencyconversion, a direct electronic debit, another type of financialinstrument, or any combination thereof. A consumer may use the temporaryshopping pass 200 to securely access the financing provided by thelender. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the shopping pass 200 may includevarious information associated with a lender account associated with aconsumer. For example, a retailer name 202 may indicate where (e.g., atwhich retailer) the shopping pass 200 was printed. In some cases, theshopping pass 200 may only be valid for the retailer names in theretailer name 202. In other cases, the shopping pass 200 may be valid atany retailer associated with the lender where the consumer has createdan account.

The shopping pass 200 may include a unique shopping pass identifier 204(e.g., a hexadecimal number or a decimal number) and a scannable code206. The scannable code 206 may be a universal product code (UPC), aquick reference (QR) code, a bar code, or another type of code that canbe scanned by the computing device 102 of the retailer 120. Scanning thescannable code 206 may provide the computing device 102 with variousinformation associated with the shopping pass 200. For example, theinformation associated with the shopping pass 200 may include one ormore of an approval date identifying when the shopping pass was approvedby the lender, an authorized amount identifying a maximum amountavailable for a particular transaction or for the account, an accountnumber, a store number (e.g., where the shopping pass 200 was printed orwhere the shopping pass 200 is approved for use), a consumer name, aone-time card number to be used to process the shopping pass in a mannersimilar to a credit card number, an expiration date after which thetemporary shopping pass 200 is no longer valid, a security code (notethat while the security code is illustrated as a three digit code inFIG. 2, the security code may be any number of digits, e.g., greaterthan or fewer than three digits), a lender name identifying the lender(e.g., one of the lenders 110), a lender phone number, or terms andconditions associated with the shopping pass 200. The terms andconditions may indicate various conditions, such as one or more of anindication that the shopping pass 200 is a single use financialinstrument, an amount of a transaction for which the shopping pass 200is used may not exceed the authorized amount, the shopping pass 200should be used to return any items purchased using the shopping pass200, or other terms or conditions associated with the shopping pass 200.

Thus, when a consumer desires to initiate a transaction at a retailer, alender may provide the shopping pass 200 to enable the consumer tocomplete the transaction. In some cases, the shopping pass 200 may beprinted at the retailer's location using the retailer's point of saleterminal, a kiosk, or other computing device. In other cases, theshopping pass 200 may be sent to and displayed on a computing deviceassociated with the consumer, such as a mobile phone or tablet computingdevice. In such cases, the consumer may display the shopping pass andthe retailer may scan the scannable code 206. The shopping pass 200 maybe processed by the retailer in a manner similar to a credit card, e.g.,the card number, expiration date, and security code of the shopping pass200 may be processed by the retailer in a manner similar to thecorresponding fields (e.g., card number, expiration date, and securitycode) of a credit card. For example, an agent of the retailer may scanthe scannable code 206 or enter at least a portion of the informationfrom the shopping pass 200 into the point of sale terminal of theretailer. The point of sale terminal may process the informationassociated with the shopping pass 200 in a manner similar to a creditcard and send the information along with transaction-related data to amerchant acquirer. The merchant acquirer may send the information andthe transaction-related data to a network processor associated with acredit card company for processing. The result (e.g., approval ordecline) of sending the information and the transaction-related data maybe sent back to the point of sale terminal. If the result indicates thatthe transaction was approved, the transaction may be completed.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram 300 to create a shopping pass according to someimplementations. The flow diagram 300 illustrates the interactionbetween the various entities of FIG. 1 when creating a shopping pass,such as the shopping pass 200 of FIG. 2.

At 304, an agent of the retailer may, in response to a consumer request,initiate a transaction at the computing device 102 of FIG. 1. Theconsumer may desire to acquire one or more items from the retailer aspart of the transaction. The agent of the retailer may enter (e.g., byscanning a code of each item) an identifier associated with each of theone or more items to be acquired as part of the transaction.

At 306, the computing device 102 may determine a total associated withthe transaction by adding the amounts corresponding to each of the oneor more items, subtracting any discounts associated with thetransaction, adding any taxes (e.g., state or federal taxes) associatedwith the transaction, etc.

At 310, the computing device 102 may send a request to provide ashopping pass to enable the transaction to be completed. The computingdevice 102 may send the shopping pass request to the liaison 112 or tothe Nth lender 132.

At 312, the liaison 112 may send a purchase request to the Nth lender132.

At 314, the Nth lender 132 may compare the total amount of thetransaction with an amount of available credit associated with theconsumer's account to determine whether to approve or decline theshopping pass request. For example, the consumer's account may have acredit limit of X, the consumer may have an amount Y owing on theaccount based on a previous transaction, and the current transaction mayhave a total amount of Z. The Nth lender 132 may determine whether theconsumer has available credit by determining whether Y+Z<=X. If the sumof Y and Z is greater than X, then the Nth lender 132 may decline thepurchase request, at 316. If the Nth lender 132 declines the shoppingpass request, a message may be sent to the computing device 102indicating that the shopping pass request was denied.

If the sum of Y and Z is less than or equal to X, then the Nth lender132 may approve (e.g., open to buy) the purchase request, at 318. TheNth lender 132 may send a message to the liaison 112 indicating that thepurchase request was approved.

At 320, the liaison 112 may receive the lender approval. The lenderapproval may also indicate an amount of financing (e.g., credit limit)that the lender has approved.

At 322, in response to receiving the lender approval, the liaison 112may send a request to the bank 108 requesting that a one-time cardnumber (OCN) be created.

At 324, the bank 108 (or the bank processor 124) may create the OCN inresponse to the OCN creation request from the liaison 112 and send theOCN to the liaison 112.

At 326, the liaison 112 may receive the OCN, create a shopping pass(e.g., similar to the shopping pass 200 of FIG. 2), and send theshopping pass to the computing device 102 for the consumer to redeem.The agent of the retailer may enter the information included in theshopping pass into the computing device 102 to redeem the shopping pass.The computing device 102 may process the shopping pass information tocomplete the transaction initiated at 304 in a manner similar to the waythe computing device 102 processes a transaction in which a credit cardis used as the method of payment.

Thus, when a consumer initiates a transaction at a retailer, theconsumer may indicate that the consumer has an account at a lenderassociated with the retailer. The POS may request a shopping pass. Ifthe consumer's account has sufficient credit available, the lender mayapprove a purchase request and the liaison may create a shopping pass,similar to the shopping pass 200 of FIG. 2, may be created. The retailermay enter data (e.g., OCN data) from the shopping pass into the POS asif the data was from a credit card. The POS may process the shoppingpass data in a manner similar to processing credit card data. In thisway, a retailer can enable a consumer to access financing provided bylenders who do not offer credit cards. Thus, lender accountscorresponding to lender financing can be processed by the retailer as ifthey were credit card accounts, making it easy for consumer to useaccounts with non-credit card lenders.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of processing a shopping pass according to someimplementations. The flow diagram 400 illustrates the interactionbetween the various entities of FIG. 1 when a shopping pass (e.g., theshopping pass 200 of FIG. 2) is processed.

At 402, an agent (e.g., a salesclerk) of the retailer may entertransaction details associated with the transaction into the computingdevice 102 of FIG. 1 and indicate that the tender type is a credit card(abbreviated “CC” in FIG. 4).

At 404, data (e.g., one or more of the OCN, an expiry date, and asecurity code) from the shopping pass may be entered into the computingdevice 102.

At 406, an authorization request that includes the transaction detailsand the shopping pass data may be sent to the acquirer 104. At 408, theacquirer 104 may determine that the OCN is associated with a particularpayment network (e.g., Mastercard® network) and forward theauthorization request to the payment network 119.

At 410, the payment network 119 may validate the shopping pass data(e.g., the OCN). If, at 410, the payment network 119 determines that theshopping pass data is valid, then the payment network 119 may, at 412,send the authorization request to a card issuer (e.g., the bank 108).For example, the OCN may be based on an actual account number (e.g., oneof the AANs 138 to 140) of the bank 108. Therefore, the authorizationrequest may be sent to the bank 108 (or to the bank processor 124 thatis associated with the bank 108). In FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, in someimplementations, one or more actions described as being performed by thebank 108 may be performed by the bank processor 124 acting on behalf of(e.g., as an agent of) the bank 108.

At 414, the bank 108 (or the bank processor 124) may determine whetherto authorize the transaction. For example, the bank 108 may, at 416,decline the transaction. For example, the bank 108 may decline thetransaction if the AAN (e.g., upon which the OCN is based) is not valid,the AAN has reached or passed a corresponding credit limit, or othercondition has been satisfied. The bank 108 may, at 418, approve thetransaction. For example, the bank 108 may approve the transaction ifthe AAN (e.g., upon which the OCN is based) is valid, the AAN has notreached the corresponding credit limit, another condition has beensatisfied, or any combination thereof.

At 418, the bank 108 may send the approval message to the computingdevice 102. In some cases, at 418, the bank 108 may send the approvalmessage via the payment network 119 and, in some cases, through theacquirer 104, back to the computing device 102.

At 424, the computing device 102 may display the approval message sentby the bank 108. At 426, the consumer may sign a receipt associated withthe transaction.

Thus, when processing a shopping pass, an agent of the retailer mayenter the shopping pass data and indicate to the computing device 102(e.g., POS) that the tender type is that of a credit card, therebyinstructing the computing device 102 to process the shopping pass datain a manner similar to credit card data. The shopping pass data andtransaction details may be sent to the issuing bank and the issuing bankmay determine whether to approve or decline the transaction.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram 500 to settle a transaction according to someimplementations. The flow diagram 500 illustrates the interactionbetween the various entities of FIG. 1 when a transaction is settled.

At 502, the payment network 119 may receive a batched set of cardtransactions from each retailer via the acquirer 104. At 504, thepayment network 119 may generate clearing reports and send the clearingreports to the bank 108 (or to the bank processor 124). At 506, the bank108 may fund the transactions. At 507, the bank 108 may create and sendsettlement reports reports to the liaison 112.

At 508, the liaison 112 may receive the settlement reports and createlender specific settlement reports. At 510, the liaison 112 may create alender MDR report for each lender (e.g., of the lenders 110) and sendthe lender specific settlement report and lender MDR report to eachlender, such as the representative Nth lender 132.

At 512, the Nth lender 132 may initiate settlement based on the clearingfile and the lender report that was received from the liaison 112. At514, the Nth lender 132 may generate funding reports and at 515, send areport (e.g., a merchant discount rate (MDR) report) to each retailer.The MDR is the rate charged to a merchant (e.g., retailer) by a bank forproviding debit and credit card services. The MDR is determined based onfactors such as volume, average ticket price, risk, and industry. Themerchant typically asks a bank to provide these services and agrees tothe rate prior to accepting debit and credit cards as payment. The MDRcomprises a number of dues, fees, assessments, network charges andmark-ups merchants are required to pay for accepting credit and debitcards, the largest of which is typically the interchange fee.

At 516, each lender, such as the Nth lender 132, may generate funding byproviding funds for the AAN to the bank 108 (or the bank processor 124).At 518, the bank 108 may credit the funds provided by the Nth lender 132to the AAN associated with the Nth lender 132. In this way, each lendermay provide funds for the lender's corresponding AAN at the bank.

At 520, a periodic “true up” process may be run to resolve anydiscrepancies. For example, the “true up” process may occurperiodically, e.g., every day, every week, every month, or at anotherinterval. The “true up” may reconcile discrepancies in transactions dueto returns, cancellations, etc.

Thus, the credit card partner may generate reports based on batched OCNtransactions. Each lender may receive a corresponding report and settlethe transactions in the report by providing funds for the AAN at thebank that is associated with the lender. For example, in FIG. 1, thefirst lender 130 may provide funds for the first account 134 and the Nthlender 132 may provide funds for the Nth account 136.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative architecture 600 for settling one or moretransactions according to some implementations. The architecture 600illustrates how transactions may be settled. Though the network 118 ofFIG. 1 is not illustrated in FIG. 6, it is to be understood that thevarious messages sent between entities are sent using the network 118.

Multiple retailers, including a first retailer 602 to a Pth retailer 604(where P>1) may be involved in the settlement process. Each of theretailers 602 to 604 may have one or more locations. For example, thefirst retailer 602 may have a first location 606 to a Qth location 608(where Q>1) and the Pth retailer 604 may have a first location 610 to anRth location 612 (where R>1).

Each retailer may aggregate, via a merchant acquirer, OCN transactionsacross multiple locations. The merchant acquirer may send aggregateclearing data to the bank processor 124 for settlement. For example, theacquirer 104 may aggregate OCN transactions associated with thelocations 606 to 608 of the first retailer 602 and send first clearingdata 614 to the bank 108 (or to the bank processor 124). The acquirer104 may aggregate OCN transactions associated with the locations 610 to612 for the Pth retailer 604 and send Pth clearing data 616 to the bank108 or the bank processor 124.

The bank 108 (or the bank processor 124) may aggregate the clearing data614 to 616 to create aggregate clearing data 618. The bank 108 (or thebank processor 124) may send the aggregate clearing data 618 to thesettlement facilitation hub (SFH) 114. The SFH 114 may create asettlement request 620 based on the aggregate clearing data 618 and sendthe settlement request 620 to one or more of the lenders 110. Forexample, the SFH 114 may send a first settlement request to the firstlender 130 and an Nth settlement request to the Nth lender 132.

In response to receiving the settlement request 620, one or more of thelenders 110 may send funds 622 to the bank 108 (or bank processor 124).For example, the first lender 130 may send at least a portion of thefunds 622 to the bank 108 (or bank processor 124) to settle the firstaccount 134. The Nth lender 132 may send at least a portion of the funds622 to the bank 108 (or bank processor 124) to settle the Nth account136. The bank 108 (or bank processor 124) may provide the funds 622 tothe corresponding accounts 134 to 136 at the bank 108.

The bank 108 (or the bank processor 124) may create and send settlementreports to the bank acquirer 104 based on the settlement reports 624.For example, the bank 108 (or the bank processor 124) may send a firstsettlement report 626 to the acquirer 104 based on the settlementresults 624. The bank 108 (or the bank processor 124) may send a Pthsettlement report 628 to the acquirer 104 based on the settlementresults 624. The acquirer 104 may then create reports for each of theretailers 602 to 604.

In FIG. 6, bank processing 628 identifies how the retailers 602 to 604process conventional credit cards and debit cards while the area outsidebank processing 628 indicates how shopping passes (e.g., OCN data) areprocessed during settlement and clearing.

Thus, each retailer send clearing data to a bank (or a bank processor)via an acquirer. The bank may send aggregate clearing data to asettlement facilitation hub that sends settlement requests to one ormore lenders. In response to receiving a settlement request, a lendermay initiate a transfer of funds to an account at a bank. For eachsettlement request, the lender may provide settlement results indicatingwhether settlement (e.g., a transfer of funds) was successful and, if anerror occurred, the lender may identify the type of error that occurred.The settlement facilitation hub may send settlement results to the bank.The bank may send settlement information to the acquirer and theacquirer may create settlement reports for each retailer based on thesettlement results.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of an example process 700 that includessettling one or more transactions according to some implementations. Theprocess 700 may be performed by each retailer for each lender with whichthe retailer does business.

At 702, the retailer 120 may send a clearing file to the bank 108. At704, the bank 108 may send a settlement file to the retailer 118. At706, the bank 108 may send a clearing file to the liaison 112.

At 708, the liaison 112 may send a clearing file to a lender (e.g., theNth lender 132). At 710, the lender may send a settlement file to theliaison 112. At 714, the liaison 112 may send an invoice to the retailer120.

At 716, the retailer 120 may provide payment to the lender (e.g., theNth lender 132) in response to receiving the invoice 714.

One or more of the bank 108, the liaison 112, or the lender (e.g. theNth lender 132) may take a portion of the transaction total as a fee forfacilitating the transaction. The fee may be a fixed fee (e.g., $5), apercentage of the transaction total (e.g., 5%), a percentage up to a cap(e.g., 5% or $50 whichever is greater or whichever is less), a fixed feeplus a percentage (e.g., $5 up to X and 5% of anything above X), asliding scale (e.g., 10% of a first range, 5% of a second range, 3% of athird range, etc.), another type of fee arrangement, or any combinationthereof.

Example Processes

In the flow diagrams of FIGS. 8, 9, 10, and 11 each block represents oneor more operations that can be implemented in hardware, software, or acombination thereof. In the context of software, the blocks representcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, cause the processors to perform the recited operations.Generally, computer-executable instructions include routines, programs,objects, modules, components, data structures, and the like that performparticular functions or implement particular abstract data types. Theorder in which the blocks are described is not intended to be construedas a limitation, and any number of the described operations can becombined in any order and/or in parallel to implement the processes. Fordiscussion purposes, the processes 800, 900, 1000, and 1100 aredescribed with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 as describedabove, although other models, frameworks, systems and environments maybe used to implement these processes.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an example process 800 that includesrequesting a shopping pass according to some implementations. Theprocess 800 may be performed by one or more of the entities described inFIG. 1.

At 802, an application for financing may be received from a consumer.For example, in FIG. 1, the retailer 120 may receive the application 144from the consumer 142. The consumer 142 may apply for financing in orderto complete a transaction to acquire one or more items from the retailer120.

At 804, the application may be sent to a first lender, such as a primarylender associated with a retailer. For example, in FIG. 1, the computingdevice 102 may send the application 144 to one or more of the lenders110.

At 806, in response to determining that the first lender has declined toapprove the application, a determination may be made whether a secondlender can provide financing. For example, in FIG. 1, the liaison 112may compare criteria provided by the lenders 110 to the application 144.The liaison 112 may determine a weighted score for two or more of thelenders 110 based on weighing the criteria and then select a lenderoffer for financing based on one or more criteria specified by theretailer 120. For example, if the consumer 142 qualifies for more thanone offer from more than one of the lenders 130 to 132, the liaison 112may select an offer that provides a highest credit limit to the consumer142.

At 808, when the secondary lender is capable of providing financing, thesecond lender may provide an offer of financing to the consumer 142. Theselected offer may be sent by one of the lenders 110 to the retailer120. The offer, including the terms and conditions of the offer, may bepresented to the consumer 142 at a location of the retailer 120. Forexample, the computing device 102 may display or print the offer topresent the offer to the consumer 142.

At 810, after the offer is presented to the consumer (e.g., at alocation of the retailer), if the consumer accepts the offer, the signedoffer may be sent to the second lender. For example, in FIG. 1, if theconsumer 142 accepts an offer for financing from one of the lenders 110,the signed offer may be returned to the lender providing the offer.

At 812, if the second lender approves the signed offer, the secondlender may create an account and associate the account with theconsumer. In response to receiving the signed offer, the second lendermay create an account and associate the account with the consumer.

At 814, when the consumer initiates a transaction to acquire one or moreitems from the retailer, a total amount of the transaction may bedetermined and the transaction may be saved, suspended, or both. Forexample, in FIG. 1, when the consumer 142 initiates a transaction withthe retailer 120, the consumer 142 may indicate that the consumer 142desires to finance the transaction using the financing provided by thelender. In response, the retailer 120 may save the transaction datausing the computing device 102 and suspend the transaction in order toobtain a temporary shopping pass (e.g., the shopping pass 200 of FIG.2), as described in FIG. 3.

At 816, a request for a temporary shopping associated with theconsumer's account may be sent. The computing device 102 may send arequest for a temporary shopping pass based on the consumer's accountwith the lender, as described in FIG. 3.

At 818, in response to receiving the temporary shopping pass, theretailer may resume and complete the transaction by processing thetemporary shopping pass as a credit card type of tender (e.g., in amanner similar to a credit card transaction). In response to receivingthe temporary shopping pass that includes a OCN, the retailer 120 mayprocess the temporary shopping pass as a credit card type of tender tocomplete the transaction, as described in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. The POSterminal may process the temporary shopping pass as though the temporaryshopping pass was a credit card.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an example process 900 that includesreceiving a one-time card number according to some implementations. Theprocess 900 may be performed by the liaison 112 of FIG. 1.

At 902, a request for a temporary shopping pass for a consumer may bereceived from a computing device located at a retailer. For example, inFIG. 3, at 310, the computing device 102 may send a request for ashopping pass to the liaison 112.

At 904, a purchase request may be sent to a lender (e.g., where theconsumer has an account). For example, in FIG. 3, at 312, the liaison112 may forward the purchase request to a lender (e.g., the Nth lender132, where N>0) where the consumer has an account.

At 906, a response (e.g., approving or declining the purchase request)may be received from the lender. The response may include an amount of acredit limit available to the consumer.

At 908, a request for an OCN may be sent to a bank. For example, in FIG.3, at 322, a request to create a OCN may be sent to the bank 108. Insome cases, the request to create the OCN may be sent to the bankprocessor 124 and the bank processor 124 may forward the request tocreate the OCN to the bank 108.

At 910, an OCN and associated data (e.g., expiry date, security code,etc.) may be received from the bank processor 124. For example, in FIG.3, at 326, the liaison 112 may receive OCN data from the bank 108. Insome cases, the OCN may be sent to the bank processor 124 and the bankprocessor 124 may forward the OCN to the liaison 112.

At 912, a temporary shopping pass, including the OCN and the associateddata, may be created and sent to the computing device 102 located at theretailer 120. For example, in FIG. 3, at 326, the liaison 112 may createa shopping pass based on the OCN data (e.g., OCN, expiry date, andsecurity code) and send the shopping pass to the computing device 102.

Thus, the liaison 112 may receive the request to create a shopping pass,receive approval for the transaction amount from the lender, request andreceive a OCN from a bank that hosts the lender's AAN, create atemporary shopping pass based on the OCN, and send the temporaryshopping pass to a computing device of the retailer to enable theretailer to complete the transaction. The retailer may process thetemporary shopping pass as a credit card tender type using theretailer's POS.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of an example process 1000 that includesreceiving information associated with a temporary shopping passaccording to some implementations. The process 1000 may be performed byone or more of the entities described in FIG. 1. The process 1000describes how a temporary shopping pass may be processed in a mannersimilar to a credit card, thereby enabling a lender to provide financingthat the retailer processes like a credit card.

At 1002, temporary shopping pass information may be received at acomputing device (e.g., POS) located at a retailer. For example, in FIG.4, at 402 and 404, the transaction details and the data from theshopping pass may be entered into the computing device 102 with a creditcard tender type selected.

At 1004, the temporary shopping pass information may be sent to amerchant acquirer associated with the retailer. For example, in FIG. 1,the transaction data 146 and the one-time account data 150 may be sentto the acquirer 104.

At 1006, the merchant acquirer may send the temporary shopping passinformation to a payment network.

At 1008, the payment network may validate the temporary shopping passinformation.

At 1010, if the temporary shopping pass information is valid, thetemporary shopping pass information may be sent from the bank processorto an issuing bank (e.g., the bank that provided the OCN used to createthe temporary shopping pass). For example, in FIG. 1, the bank processor124 may send the one-time account data 150 to the issuing bank, e.g.,the bank 108. The bank 108 may determine whether the AAN (e.g., one ofthe AANs 138 to 140) associated with the one-time account data 150 hassufficient funds based on the transaction data 146. If the associatedAAN has sufficient funds, the issuing bank 108 may approve using thetemporary shopping pass to fund the transaction.

At 1012, if the issuing bank approves, the bank processor may forwardthe approval to the merchant acquirer. At 1014, the merchant acquirermay forward the approval to the computing device (e.g., POS).

At 1016, the computing device may process the transaction using thetemporary shopping pass information as payment for the transaction. Forexample, in FIG. 1, the computing device 102 may, in response toreceiving approval, complete the transaction with a credit card tendertype using the shopping pass data.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of an example process 1100 that includesprocessing a return for a purchase made using a temporary shopping passaccording to some implementations. The process 1100 may be performed byone or more of the entities described in FIG. 1.

At 1102, the consumer may present an original purchase receipt and oneor more items (e.g., merchandise) to be returned to an agent (e.g.,sales associate) of a retailer. At 1104, the receipt and one or moreidentifiers associated with the one or more items may be entered into acomputing device, such as a point of sale (POS) terminal, of theretailer. In FIG. 11, the computing device 102 is referred to as a POSterminal purely for ease of discussion. As used herein, the term “POSterminal” may refer to any computing device used by the retailer toprocess transactions, returns, etc. At 1106, a one-time card number andan amount to be returned may be determined by the POS terminal. At 1108,a return request may be sent from the POS terminal to a merchantacquirer. For example, in FIG. 1, the consumer 142 may present a receiptand one or more items to be returned to a salesclerk of the retailer120. The salesclerk may enter into the computing device 102 informationassociated with the transaction by entering information from theoriginal purchase receipt and entering an identity of each item that isto be returned. In some cases, to enter the information associated withthe transaction, the salesclerk may scan a code of the original purchasereceipt, a code associated with each item to be returned, or both. Thecomputing device 102 may determine an amount to be returned to theconsumer 142 as part of the return and send a return request to theacquirer 104.

At 1110, the merchant acquirer may pass the return request to a bankprocessor. At 1112, if the bank processor determines that the OCN isvalid, the bank processor may authorize reversal of a charge. At 1114,the bank processor may send a reversal message to the merchant acquirer.At 1116, the merchant acquirer may forward the reversal message to thePOS terminal. For example, in FIG. 1, the acquirer 104 may send thereturn request to the bank processor 124 and the bank processor 124 maydetermine whether the OCN associated with the transaction is valid. Ifthe bank processor 124 determines that the OCN associated with thetransaction is valid, the bank processor 124 may send to the acquirer104 a reversal message indicating that the reversal request wasapproved. The acquirer 104 may send the reversal message to thecomputing device 102.

At 1118, the POS terminal may process the reversal in response toreceiving the reversal message. A consumer credit may be issued throughthe merchant's clearing and settlement process. For example, in FIG. 1,in response to receiving the reversal message, the computing device 102may complete processing the return and issue a credit to the consumer142. The return may be processed through the merchant's clearing andsettlement process, as described in FIGS. 5 and 6.

In some cases, at 1120, the POS terminal may process an additionaltransaction. For example, the consumer may return one or more items andthen acquire one or more additional items. To illustrate, in FIG. 1, theconsumer 142 may return an item that did not fit or that the consumer142 did not find aesthetically pleasing and purchase another item havinga different size or a different aesthetic value. Thus, a temporaryshopping pass may be used to purchase, return a set of items, andpurchase another set of items.

Example Computing Device and Environment

FIG. 12 illustrates an example configuration of a computing device 1200and environment that can be used to implement the functions describedherein. For example, the computing device 102, the liaison 112, the SFH114, and the lenders 108 to 110 may each include an architecture that issimilar to or based on the computing device 1200.

The computing device 1200 may include one or more processors 1202, oneor more computer-readable media (e.g., memory) 1204, communicationinterfaces 1206, a display device 1208, other input/output (I/O) devices1210, and one or more mass storage devices 1212, able to communicatewith each other, such as via a system bus 1214 or other suitable device.The I/O devices 1210 may include a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreendisplay, a touch-sensitive pad and stylus, a camera, a scanner, a faxmachine, etc.

The processor 1202 may be a single processing unit or a number ofprocessing units, all of which may include single or multiple computingunits or multiple cores. The processor 1202 may be implemented as one ormore microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, central processing units, state machines, logic circuitries,and/or any devices that manipulate signals based on operationalinstructions. Among other capabilities, the processor 1202 may beconfigured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions stored inthe memory 1204, mass storage devices 1212, or other computer-readablemedia.

Memory 1204 and mass storage devices 1212 are examples of computerstorage media for storing instructions 1216, which may be executed bythe processor 1202 to perform the various functions described herein.For example, memory 1204 may generally include both volatile memory andnon-volatile memory (e.g., RAM, ROM, or the like). Further, mass storagedevices 1212 may generally include hard disk drives, solid-state drives,removable media, including external and removable drives, memory cards,flash memory, floppy disks, optical disks (e.g., CD, DVD), a storagearray, a network attached storage, a storage area network, or the like.Both memory 1204 and mass storage devices 1212 may be collectivelyreferred to as memory or computer storage media herein, and may becapable of storing computer-readable, processor-executable programinstructions as computer program code that can be executed by theprocessor 1202 as a particular machine configured for carrying out theoperations and functions described in the implementations herein.

Computer storage media includes non-transitory media, such asnon-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information, such as computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data.Computer storage media includes RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or othermemory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or otheroptical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that canbe used to store information for access by a computing device.

In contrast, communication media may embody computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in amodulated data signal, such as a carrier wave. As defined herein,computer storage media does not include communication media.

The example systems and computing devices described herein are merelyexamples suitable for some implementations and are not intended tosuggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of theenvironments, architectures and frameworks that can implement theprocesses, components and features described herein. Thus,implementations herein are operational with numerous environments orarchitectures, and may be implemented in general purpose andspecial-purpose computing systems, or other devices having processingcapability. Generally, any of the functions described with reference tothe figures can be implemented using software, hardware (e.g., fixedlogic circuitry) or a combination of these implementations. The term“module,” “mechanism” or “component” as used herein generally representssoftware, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware that canbe configured to implement prescribed functions. For instance, in thecase of a software implementation, the term “module,” “mechanism” or“component” can represent program code (and/or declarative-typeinstructions) that performs specified tasks or operations when executedon a processing device or devices (e.g., CPUs or processors). Theprogram code can be stored in one or more computer-readable memorydevices or other computer storage devices. Thus, the processes,components and modules described herein may be implemented by a computerprogram product.

Furthermore, this disclosure provides various example implementations,as described and as illustrated in the drawings. However, thisdisclosure is not limited to the implementations described andillustrated herein, but can extend to other implementations, as would beknown or as would become known to those skilled in the art. Reference inthe specification to “one implementation,” “this implementation,” “theseimplementations” or “some implementations” means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described is included in at leastone implementation, and the appearances of these phrases in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame implementation.

CONCLUSION

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, the subject matterdefined in the appended claims is not limited to the specific featuresor acts described above. Rather, the specific features and actsdescribed above are disclosed as example forms of implementing theclaims. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations orvariations of the disclosed implementations, and the following claimsshould not be construed to be limited to the specific implementationsdisclosed in the specification. Instead, the scope of this document isto be determined entirely by the following claims, along with the fullrange of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method performed by one or more processorsexecuting instructions to perform acts comprising: receiving, at a pointof sale terminal of a retailer, transaction data associated with atransaction to acquire one or more items from the retailer; sending arequest for a temporary shopping pass, the temporary shopping passassociated with an account of the consumer at a lender, the temporaryshopping pass comprising a payment instrument corresponding to a type offinancing provided by the lender; in response to receiving, at the pointof sale terminal, the temporary shopping pass, determining shopping passdata included in the temporary shopping pass at the point of saleterminal; and processing, using the point of sale terminal, the shoppingpass data as a credit card type tender to complete the transaction, thetemporary shopping pass not usable as tender after the transaction iscompleted.
 2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the temporaryshopping pass corresponds to a financial instrument provided by thelender that is associated with an account of the consumer.
 3. The methodas recited in claim 1, wherein, before sending the request for thetemporary shopping pass from the point of sale terminal to the lender,the acts further comprise: determining a total amount associated withthe transaction; and temporarily suspending the transaction.
 4. Themethod as recited in claim 1, wherein the shopping pass data comprisesat least one of: a one-time card number comprising at least twelvedigits; an expiry date comprising one or more of a day, a month, or ayear; or a shopping pass identifier; a security code comprising at leastthree digits.
 5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein: thetemporary shopping pass is created by a bank processor associated with abank; and the temporary shopping pass includes a one-time card numberthat is based on a actual account number associated with an account atthe bank.
 6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transactiondata associated with the transaction to acquire the one or more itemsfrom the retailer comprises at least one of: one or more individualamounts associated with individual items of the one or more items; adiscount amount associated with the transaction; a sales tax amount of asales tax associated with the transaction; a shipping amount associatedwith shipping costs associated with the transaction; or a total amountassociated with the transaction.
 7. The method as recited in claim 1,wherein completing the transaction by processing the shopping pass dataas the credit card type tender comprises: sending the shopping pass datato a merchant acquirer associated with the retailer, the merchantacquirer to determine a one-time card number included in the shoppingpass data, identify a bank that issued the one-time card number, andforward the shopping pass data to a bank processor associated with thebank that issued the one-time card number.
 8. A point of sale terminalcomprising: one or more processors; one or more non-transitory computerreadable storage media to store instructions that are executable by theone or more processors to perform acts comprising: receiving transactiondata associated with a transaction to acquire one or more items from aretailer; sending a request for a temporary shopping pass comprising avirtual payment instrument associated with an account of a consumer at alender, the request including at least a portion of the transactiondata; receiving the temporary shopping pass; determining, from thetemporary shopping pass as a credit card tender type, a one-time cardnumber; and completing the transaction using the temporary shoppingpass.
 9. The point of sale terminal as recited in claim 8, wherein,before sending the request for the temporary shopping pass, theinstructions are further executable to perform acts comprising:determining a total amount associated with the transaction; andtemporarily suspending the transaction.
 10. The point of sale terminalas recited in claim 8, wherein the transaction data associated with thetransaction to acquire the one or more items from the retailer comprisesat least one of: one or more individual amounts associated withindividual items of the one or more items; a discount amount associatedwith the transaction; a sales tax amount of a sales tax associated withthe transaction; a shipping amount associated with shipping costsassociated with the transaction; or a total amount associated with thetransaction.
 11. The point of sale terminal as recited in claim 8,further comprising: determining, from the temporary shopping pass as thecredit card tender type, an expiry date and a security code associatedwith the one-time card number.
 12. The point of sale terminal as recitedin claim 8, wherein the temporary shopping pass comprises at least oneof a loan, a lease, or a revolving line of credit provided by the lenderto the account associated with the consumer.
 13. The point of saleterminal as recited in claim 8, wherein the temporary shopping pass isnot usable as tender after completing the transaction.
 14. One or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media including instructionsthat are executable by one or more processors to perform actscomprising: receiving transaction data associated with a transaction toacquire one or more items from a retailer; sending a request for atemporary shopping pass comprising a virtual payment instrument thetemporary shopping pass corresponding to at least one of a loan, alease, or a revolving line of credit provided by the lender to aconsumer; receiving the temporary shopping pass; determining, from thetemporary shopping pass, at least a one-time card number and an expirydate; and completing the transaction using the temporary shopping passas a credit card tender type.
 15. The one of more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media as recited in claim 14, wherein, beforesending the request for the temporary shopping pass, the instructionsare further executable to perform acts comprising: determining a totalamount associated with the transaction; and temporarily suspending thetransaction by saving the transaction data in the one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media.
 16. The one of morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 14,wherein the transaction data comprises at least one of: one or moreindividual amounts associated with individual items of the one or moreitems; a discount amount associated with the transaction; a sales taxamount of a sales tax associated with the transaction; a shipping amountassociated with shipping costs associated with the transaction; or atotal amount associated with the transaction.
 17. The one of morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 14,wherein the temporary shopping pass is not usable as tender aftercompleting the transaction.
 18. The one of more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media as recited in claim 14, wherein: thetemporary shopping pass is created by a bank processor associated with abank; and the one-time card number is based on a actual account numberassociated with an account at the bank.
 19. The one of morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 14,wherein completing the transaction using the shopping pass datacomprises: sending the one-time card number and the expiry date to amerchant acquirer associated with the retailer, the merchant acquirer toforward the shopping pass data to a bank processor associated with abank that issued the one-time card number.
 20. The one of morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 14,wherein a lender liaison performs acts comprising: receiving the requestfor the temporary shopping pass; determining whether the lenderpre-authorizes the transaction; in response to determining that thelender has pre-authorized the transaction, sending a request to a bankfor the one-time card number; in response to receiving the one-time cardnumber from the bank, creating the temporary shopping pass; and sendingthe temporary shopping pass to a point of sale terminal associated withthe retailer.